growth

I’ve never grown bamboo. I’m sure I’d like to; I love all types of flowers and plants. My favorite food is anything fresh from the garden. But as sure as I’m living, I can’t grow anything to save my life. I was cursed with a black thumb. Give me a pot of flowers, I can almost guarantee they won’t survive the week (I’m sorry but its true!). And I’ve only ever tried the easy stuff. But I’m positive bamboo wouldn’t even stand a chance.

Although I’m not a gardener, I would consider myself a scientist. Before I went to Nursing School, I studied Biology so I was required to take classes that were about all life forms, not just the human body. In some of those classes, we had to learn about plants. That’s how I know about bamboo.

So let me give you a general picture of the growth cycle of bamboo. In the first year, you plant the seeds and nurture them, but nothing grows. In the second year, there is still no growth. The third year, still no seedlings sprout. Guess what happens in the fourth year? Still nothing! Finally, in the fifth year, the bamboo shoots grow 90 feet!

90 feet in one year! Can you imagine being the gardener that started those seedlings? Can you imagine looking at your crop, continuing to nurture it, water it, and care for it, day in and day out, for years, without reaping the benefits? I know I’m not a patient enough person (or reliable enough gardener) for that type of commitment to a tree.

But after those four years, you start to notice something, finally. One day in the fifth year, you see that your bamboo has sprouted from the ground. And from then on, it shoots up like a rocket! 90 feet in one year, friend! After four years of developing, changing, and growing under the soil that bamboo plant is breaking ground, literally.

Aren’t we a little like bamboo? We sit quietly and comfortably deep in the dirt. It’s safe there and we’ve even made friends with the worms. But one day, one special, breathtaking day, we decide it’s time to stretch and show this world what we’ve got to offer. I think we have a lot in common with bamboo. Whether it is in our relationships, our education, our careers, or in our ministry, one day we break to the top of the soil and show the planet who we are and what we’ve been up to.

Friends, I believe this is my 90 foot growth year. I think it could be yours, too! My life is a-moving and a-shaking like I’ve never seen before. I’m bursting through the soil to see the sunshine. I hope you will, too. Let’s do this together. So let’s take a deep breath, soak up that last bit of soil, and “leaf” our fears behind. I’ll see you in 90 feet!

How are you growing in your 90 foot growth year? Were you afraid to leave the warmth of your soil? Tell me more in the comments below. Let’s encourage one another.

“For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:11